The Burning Rose
by redpinkandwhite
Summary: Currently being reworked and updated to a better story. Hold on and see the new, and improved, Burning Roses! If you would like to still have the new one up and keep the old one for viewing, please comment on chapter Eight. Thank you!
1. Chapter One: The Meeting

The Burning Rose

Chapter One

OOC- This is my first story ever put onto the internet, so if you have some helpful hints, please give them to me.

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She looked out the white marble balcony of the new Northern Air Temple with a city growing around it. Her chocolate brown hair was strung into a tight bun that hurt just getting it in that way. She wore yellow and orange clothes that were a size too big. She had tried to convince Aang to have the clothes taken in or at least have her move the stitches, but he always disagreed because they are antiques and he doesn't want an antique modified or it takes away its beauty. She had orange slippers on as well, also too big.

Sometimes he was so infuriating since they had been married. He made her take all the traditions of the Air Nomads. She couldn't eat meat. In fact, she couldn't remember the last time she had even seen it. She couldn't stand the orange and yellow he always made her wear.

"_But Air Nomads only wear orange and yellow!" Aang had said. _

"_What if I don't want to be an Air Nomad?" she said, starting to get mad._

"_Well, if we want to bring back the Air Nomads, we need to keep the traditions going so we can teach it to our kids!" he said, in an almost bored tone, because he had said it so much, he was getting tired of saying it. _

_"Kids?" Katara said in a squeak. "I don't think I am ready for kids yet Aang. I am only 16 years old."_

_"But we are the only ones to keep the Air Nomads from dying out." He said. _

Katara suppressed a shiver as she thought about that conversation. It was a very awkward conversation she didn't want to go through again.

She scanned the horizon for anything new, but nothing stood out. It was just as always. She sighed. She looked at the sunset as it began to turn a blood red and the yellow started to fade. Black, purple, and grey crept its way over the sky everywhere else.

_ It has been 5 years since I have seen my brother, Toph, or Suki. I wonder how they are in the South Pole?_

"Hey!" Aang called from downstairs. "Katara, I have a surprise for you!"

"What is it now?" she muttered under her breath. Last time he said that, she had gotten more of the yellow and orange clothes added to her wardrobe of yellow and orange.

She started to walk down the white hallways and down a spiral staircase to the main room out front when she spotted a huge white beast.

"Appa!" She cried, running as fast as she could and spreading her arms wide, hugging his face. Appa stuck out his tongue and licked her whole body as Katara tried to get away, but ended up getting coated even more. She heard a chorus of laughs as she tried to shake off the substance. She stopped for a moment to turn around to see who was laughing. She first spotted a blue clad figure in a ponytail.

"Sokka!" she cried, running at him full speed.

"Katara, no! I don't…" he said, trying to stop her from coating him as well, but she hugged him anyway. "Aw, man! I just had Suki clean this!"

"I missed you too, Sokka!" she said as she clutched onto her brother.

"All right, Boomerang Boy, you had your turn. It's my turn now." A familiar voice rang.

"Toph!" she screamed, clutching onto the blind earthbender. She pulled Toph off the ground as Toph tried to worm her way out. Her hands were pinned to her sides, so she couldn't earthbend and her feet were off the ground. Finally, she wiggled enough for Katara to let her go. Toph fell, and barely caught herself.

"All right, Boomerang Boy, you can have her back." She said, rubbing her arms where Katara had held her.

"I don't think she is done yet."

"Suki!"

"Katara" She said, holding her arms out, wearing the traditional Kyoshi uniform without the make-up. Katara rushed, held her in a death grip, and hugged Suki till she couldn't breathe.

"Katara," Suki wheezed. "You can… let go… now."

"Oh, sorry," she said, setting Suki down gently. "I just missed all of you guys so much."

"But Katara, you forgot someone." Aang said, shuffling to her left shoulder.

"Who?" she said.

Aang pointed directly in front of her, right where Appa was standing.

A tall, dark figure loomed by Appa's tail, with a black cape around its shoulders, and a hood that kept his face out of sight. The cape was so long, it dragged on the ground and it looked like velvet when the sun hit it.

"You will never guess who it is!" Aang said, happiness rang in his voice.

"Was he a banished prince, is now married to Mai, and the new Fire Lord?" Katara said, crossing her arms and moving slowly toward the hood of the figure. She stuck out her arms to take off his hood, and he caught both of them, still hiding his face in shadow.

"Yes," he said, slowly craning his neck to his right, away from Katara.

Quickly, Katara spun around, he let go of her wrists, and she flipped off the hood with her left hand while he grabbed for her right wrist.

"Why are you hiding?" she said, staring into his eyes. He had a hold on her right wrist and he immediately let go. He turned his head away and diverted his eyes away from her.

"I don't feel right here." He said calmly to the floor.

"Why?" she said, trying to get him to look at her. "We all accepted you as our friend at the Southern Air Temple."

"I still feel bad for what I did to you… and your friends." He added as he tried to keep the blush that was coming from reaching his cheeks.

"Well, we all forgive you, right guys?" Katara said, remembering everyone else there. She turned and everyone grunted ok at the same time. "See!"

"Katara, I don't mean to disturb you, but I am hungry. I haven't eaten since Ba Sing Se." Sokka whined, clutching his stomach, which rumbled as if on cue.

"All right, but we don't have meat here. You need to hunt for meat if you want it." She said, walking to the kitchen.

"Hey, Katara?" Suki called, jogging after her.

"Yeah?" she said as she spun around to see Suki.

"Can I come with you?"

"Sure," she said.

They both walked to the kitchen in silence, Katara looking at Suki's uniform and Suki trying to look for the entrance to the kitchen.

"It is right here," Katara said as she pointed to a doorway on her right. They both went into the kitchen and started to make the food for the night. The air had a comfortable silence around them, but Katara had something bugging her she wanted to know.

"So," Katara said as she waterbended some water into a big black kettle sitting over wood to start a fire. "Where did you go?"

"What do you mean?" Suki said as Katara handed her some cabbage and a knife.

"Well, what happened after Aang defeated Ozai?" Katara said as she tried to start the fire.

"Uh," she said, chopping the cabbage. "I went with Sokka down to the Southern Water Tribe."

"Did you like it?" Katara said, slowly stirring the soup she was making.

"Once I got past the cold, it was a cute place to live in." she said, trying to miss cutting her finger, sounding a little worried, but Katara didn't notice.

"Did anyone remember me?" Katara said, hoping that Gran-Gran would be worried about her.

"Yes." She said, trying to concentrate on chopping, and sighed inside, glad they changed the subject. "Everyone was wondering where you were. One lady though, she just asked, and I said you were fine, and she chuckled and smiled, then returned to her work."

_'That's my Gran-Gran'_ Katara thought. She smiled as she picked up a herb to put into the soup.

"But there was this old looking guy with her, he had white hair, and was waving at Sokka."

_'Master Pakku is in the Southern Water Tribe? What would he be doing there?' _she thought as she put all of the newly chopped cabbage in the soup. Katara tasted a little of the soup. It tasted like watered down cabbage, and that was what it was made out of. Water and cabbage. '_Yep, definitely loving being an Air Nomad'_ she thought sarcastically. She got some bread out that she had made yesterday and brought everyone a bowl of water and some cabbage with bread.

"Katara?" Sokka said, staring at the soup. "What is this?"

"Soup!" she said, taking her spoon and let the liquid drip down her throat.

"Are you sure?" Toph said, trying the soup and making a face.

"This was all we had in the kitchen." Katara said, drinking another spoonful and letting it slip down her throat.

"Can't you go to the market or something?" Sokka whined.

"Sure, Sokka. You guys can sit here for a week till I get back." Katara said, her voice dripping with sarcasm as she got another spoonful. She was starting to get mad, and it came out through her voice. Sokka quietly sat there, not bothering to complain anymore.

Suki tried the soup, and immediately tried not to let it come back up. She grabbed the bread quickly and took a big bite of the slightly stale bread. Aang drank a spoonful and immediately picked up the bowl, put it to his lips, and drank the whole thing.

"Good soup, Katara!" Aang said.

"Thank you, Aang," she said.

Toph just stared at the soup, hoping it will disappear. Sokka sat and pursed his lips, thinking of getting some meat. Katara drank all of the soup, spoonful by spoonful, letting it slowly slip down her throat. Soon, Katara excused herself from the table, having finished all of her soup.

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OOC- Yesh! More to come, very, very soon! The next one will be short! I am sorry!


	2. Chapter Two: The Spirit and Sokka

The Burning Rose

Chapter Two: The Spirit and Sokka

OOC- Actually, it isn't short, but it isn't long, so I hope you like it! I am so bad at writing,"cry", I wish I was better! I have updated it. I hope is better than the first one! Please review!

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"Hey, Aang!" She shouted from the kitchen as she waterbended some water into the sink in front of her.

"Yeah?" he said from the dining room. He started to walk towards the kitchen through winding hallways. He finally got to the kitchen. He stood in the doorway as Katara started to speak.

"Where is the new Fire Lord?" she said, staring at her bowl as she cleaned it.

"He had to go to a meeting right after this," he said as he moved right next to Katara, watching her wash her dish.

"Why did he come to see us if he had to go to the meeting?" she asked as she got out some soap and quickly rubbed the dish down once with soap before she started to clean again.

"He said he wanted to see you." He said, trying not to get mad at Zuko for saying that. He took a deep breath and reminded himself that they are _friends_. _Only friends_. Katara's mine. He took another deep breath.

"Did you hear me?" Katara said as she took out the bowl and waterbended the water off, making it bone dry. He saw that the fading sunlight that came through the window make the sweat on her brow glow an orange color.

"No. What did you say?" his voice fading as he said it, thinking about how beautiful Katara looked when she worked hard. He pushed back a stray hair that had escaped from her now loose bun.

"What is so important about this meeting? Is it important enough to leave right while you are in the middle of meeting some friends you haven't seen in a while?" she snapped at Aang as she put the bowl down in the cabinets on top of the other bowls.

"Well," he said, coming out of his thoughts, "It was a meeting between all of the major leaders of the world. Something happened that they had to have an emergency meeting."

"What happened?" she asked as she tried to pick up the heavy black pot holding the soup.

"No one knows, only the leaders," he said, trying to help her by bending some of the water out of it to make it lighter. "but I bet Sifu Hotman will tell us."

"I bet so too," she panted as she put the heavy black kettle full of soup near the window sill and tipped it so the contents spilled over.

She pulled it back and set it back where it was, over the dead fire. She walked over to Aang, and gave him a hug.

"I am going get everyone and get them in their rooms, ok?" she said.

"Ok," he said, pausing in the doorway, wondering if he should go back and kiss her, but decided against it and went to bed.

Katara moved and got all of her friend's bowls, put them in the kitchen, and showed them all their rooms, Suki insisting to have her room right next to Sokka's.

Once everyone was situated, she went and washed the bowls in silence, using her waterbending to get the bowls wet and drying them off. The whole time, she thought about Suki's request.

_'What happened at the South Pole?'_ she thought as she put a bowl away. _'Did Sokka do anything to her? Why did they Suki want their rooms close together? What is going on between them? Did they get married? I have a right to know! I should ask Suki, at least she would tell me. Sokka would deny anything. I don't want to bother her at this late of a time, so I will just finish this and go to my room and go to bed._

She did just that, but she didn't go to bed. She ended up watching the moon come up and see the stars come out. She loved to watch it from her beautiful balcony she cleans everyday. She leaned against the marble rail, holding her yellow and blue necklace that had been made by Aang for a betrothal necklace. It had a yellow air symbol with a blue water symbol inside of it. The band's colors was split in half, the top half yellow and the bottom blue. She hated the colors together and she wanted to yank it off and throw it out the window, but she couldn't and wouldn't break Aang's heart.

That was the same thing that got her in this situation. She didn't want to break Aang's heart when he asked her to marry him. She didn't want to marry him, but she didn't want to see him hurt, so she said yes. That was the decision she regretted most in her life.

She stared into the sunset, thinking about what she had done. She had always had a crush on Aang, but she found someone else who had taken her heart. Now Aang was just like a little brother to her.

She sighed as she saw the full moon reach halfway across the sky. She felt like she had gotten an energy boost under the moon, but she knew it wouldn't last long.

Suddenly, she saw a black streak across her left. She turned to look and it was gone. She pulled out her waterskin and opened it when she heard a whisper in her ear.

"Don't worry. It's just me." It said, soft enough that she barely heard it.

She immediately relaxed, put the water back in her skin, and corked it in one smooth motion. She turned around to see the person behind her and it put a blindfold over her head.

"What are you doing?" she said as it moved over to her back to tie it behind her head.

"Nothing," it said, as it finished tying the knot. It tried to lower its voice more so she wouldn't recognize it. It worked for a little while, then she could pick up its real voice.

"Tell me or I will kill you," she said, trying to rip the blindfold off. She tugged with all of her strength and it wouldn't come off. As she pulled on it, she felt her circulation in her head begin to stop, and she frantically tried to rip off the blindfold.

"Help me," she screamed to the darkness, waving her hands around like a blind man, trying to find the other person. "Get this loose or something, it is cutting off my circulation!"

"Shush!" it said as it began to loosen the blindfold. It was even lower this time, but she swore she knew the person.

She stood there, steaming, as it loosened the blindfold. Instantly, she was grateful that the person was there, even though she didn't know who it was.

Once it was done, she felt it begin to tug on her hand. She immediately followed the direction it was tugging her. She stumbled twice as she was being pulled, and she tripped once, but the person caught her and hastily put her back on her feet before pulling again. Once it stopped pulling her, she stood, waiting for it to say something. When the person didn't, she spoke up.

"Can I take off my blindfold?" she said quietly, rocking back and forth on her heels.

"NO!" it said in a loud whisper.

"Well, I am going to do it anyway!" she said as she started to move toward the blindfold across her face.

"Fine," it whispered, and she immediately pulled it off. She looked around and saw nothing but black. She wanted to scream, but she made no sound. She felt like the black was enclosing her body, she felt like she couldn't breathe, and she actually screamed this time. Then she felt a hand over her mouth that she couldn't see. She began to freak out again and started to scream, but the hand muffled it.

"Be quiet," it said, its face right next to her ear. She felt a shiver run down her back as it spoke into her ear. She immediately stopped screaming and turned to look at it. It had an ugly spirit mask on. It was made a red mask that covered the left half of its face, and blue the other half, like a yin yang mask. It looked like the Blue Spirit, but with it cut in half and the other half was red with gold. "Follow me," it said. "We aren't done yet."

Katara followed the spirit out a window that let in none of the moon's light. She hadn't noticed the window or the door in the room they left behind, but she did notice that the other person was very agile and flexible. The spirit leaped the top of buildings like a grasshopper. The spirit never stopped, only to help her when she got caught on a piece of shingle. She was now very grateful the spirit was here.

They leaped over the green and brown buildings like cats over a wall. She could spring high in the air, but not very far. The spirit, however, didn't leap very high, but made it a farther distance. The spirit was always ahead of her, and she got mad at that fact. That meant he was better than her.

She looked at the spirit, and it felt like, somehow, she knew the spirit. It had its face covered, but she could see the way it moved, like someone she had known. It crouched like someone she had known, but it wasn't a girl. She could tell of the difference. The spirit didn't really crouch low, and it wasn't very agile as a girl would be, but it was still very agile.

She shrugged it off as the spirit turned the corner of the Temple into a deserted building right inside a dark alley. It was a far length from the Temple, just enough that if she were to scream, no one would hear her from the temple. Katara hesitated at the end of the dark alley.

"Whoa, wait," she said. "I don't trust you enough to go in there with you."

The spirit just motioned for her to follow, so she cautiously walked over, keeping her guard up at all times. When she got into the building, the spirit closed the rusty door with an earsplitting creak. Katara gasped as the spirit did so. She immediately uncorked her water skin and got the water ready out in front of her. The spirit put his hands up, and pointed toward the corner of the building. There Katara saw a body on the floor. There were holes in the roof of the building and Katara was lucky that it wasn't going to rain or it could have made the roof cave in. A tiny amount of light escaped from the moon into the building, just enough so she could see where she was going.

She walked over to the body and crouched over it, trying to make out their face. She looked carefully, trying to see the face with a strip of moonlight over their body, then her face went deathly pale and she looked like she was about to scream. There was blood in a little puddle underneath the body and she fainted from shock, but screamed one thing before her world went black.

"Sokka!"

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OOC- Sorry for the OOCness from Katara. I wanted to make a cliff hanger! (I do like them!) I won't leave you with cliff hangers all the time, and I promise to get better at writing, (I hope!), if I can get better... Ok! Thank you for reading, and don't be afraid to review. I have the anonymous up, so if you want to, you don't have to login to review!

I would like to thank silver-nightstorm for her advice. It really helped me! Thank you!

And I want to thank hhi. You are awesome! Thank you for reviewing, and they help me to keep writing!

Thank you for reading!

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	3. Chapter Three: The Trudge Back

The Burning Rose

Chapter Three

The Trudge Back

OOC- Sorry! The writing sucks. Please excuse me.

This is going to be EXTREMELY LONG, compared to my other chapters, so don't freak out.

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"Katara!" she heard a familiar voice scream. "Katara! Wake up!" She felt something cold wash over her face, instantly waking her up.

"Huh?" she said as she tried to sit up, but fell back onto the floor instead. Her vision was blurry but she could see some red and blue. 'Is it the spirit?' she thought as she blinked her eyes to get rid of the blurriness. When her vision slowly came back, she saw the spirit's shape leaning over her. "W-What happened?" she said, looking around and trying to remember what happened earlier.

The spirit pointed to her brother, lying on the floor around a puddle of blood. She quickly got onto her hands and knees and crawled to her brother, but her vision went blurry again from getting up too fast. She stopped for a second to blink her eyes a little to get the blurriness off again. Then she ripped off Sokka's shirt, with the spirit helping her, to see what had happened. He had a nasty gash across his back diagonally that was beginning to get infected. There was a green color that was creeping up his back. It was still dripping blood. It just ran down his already blood red back into the puddle of blood.

She wanted to gag and she wanted to cry, but she held them back and she took out the water from her waterskin. She wrapped it around her hand and it began to glow an electric blue. She stuck it on Sokka's back and concentrated all her energy on trying to clean the infection. Slowly, the green on his back began to fade till it was completely gone. By this time, Katara was about to fall asleep, but she kept persistent and started to heal the wound. Blood was running down his back, and she wanted to cry more, for she didn't like to see her brother hurt, but she held it back and continued on her struggle. She saw the skin knit together quickly, like someone had sewn the two sides of his skin together.

Once the skin was sewn together, she used the drops of water left to wash off the blood on his back. It cleared less than half of his back of the blood, but she felt a little bit better, because he was somewhat clean. She moved him over so he wouldn't lay in the pool of blood. She used the rest of her energy to move him, and when he was moved, she felt like she was going to collapse. But she didn't and went over to Sokka's side and watched his chest rise and fall, hoping that he would be ok when he woke up. She grabbed his limp hand and held it in her own, hovering over her heart. She wanted to cry, but she didn't have enough energy to cry. So she just hung her head and was very glad that the spirit had shown her where her brother was.

Only when the spirit tapped her on the shoulder did she get out of her trace-like state. She turned her head and saw the spirit standing next to her. He pointed toward the sky and she saw the sun was up. She had been sitting in one position for so long, so she was sore and didn't want to move. The spirit stuck his hand out in a gesture to help her up. She took his hand, stood up, and she instantly regretted it. All the pain that shot through her legs made her fall back down, but he caught her before she was going to fall. He held her in a bridal style fashion and helped her back onto her feet, holding her shoulders just in case she fell again. Once she got back on her feet, she began to try, and fail, to pick up her brother.

"Can-you-help-me?" she said between grunts. The spirit didn't move. She glared daggers at the spirit as she kept pulling. Nothing. Finally, she gently laid her brother down and said, "Please?" mustering as much innocence and manner in her voice she could in her fatigue.

The spirit shrugged his shoulders and came over to her brother, pushing her out of the way hastily. The spirit picked up Sokka, opened the rusty door with another loud squeek!, and started to walk out.

"Hey! That wasn't nice!" she screamed as she sat there, watching them go out the door. "Wait! Stop! Wait for me! Don't leave!"

The spirit didn't slow down and she had to run to catch up to him. She finally caught up to him in a dark alley, panting, and she had to run to keep up with the spirit for they was walking extremely fast. Katara was starting to get a little spooked because she with a person she didn't know, but swears she knows, and was walking with them in a dark alley. She began to get worried about Sokka and herself.

'What if the spirit would turn on me and kill me or Sokka?' she thought. She looked around and she noticed that she didn't have any water and there was no way to get to water in the little alleyway. She looked around frantically, letting the spirit gain some distance between the two. She finally figured out that there was no way for her to waterbend to protect herself and she noticed that the spirit had stopped and was now staring at her. She kept her guard up, but she ran next to the spirit and quietly followed them.

While the spirit was walking and Katara was running, she looked at her brother, not wanting to look at the spirit. She noticed his hair was singed at tips and his boomerang was gone. His clothes were ripped all over, and there were ugly burn marks where fire had grazed his shirt and pants. He had no shoes on, and his toes looked ugly. They looked like Toph's feet with bits of dirt and grass stuck in his feet that probably have been there since Sozin's comet.

'Sokka, when was the last time you cleaned your toes?' she said to herself. She began to chuckle, but it hurt too much to do that with all the running she had to do, so she just laughed inside. She took her gaze away from Sokka and she noticed that the spirit had started to walk slower. She slowed her pace so she matched the spirit's slow walk, but it was a fast walk for Katara. She immediatly put her gaze back on Sokka. He was still breathing and his face had a red glow to it.

Soon, she had nothing to do, so she finally looked at the ugly spirit mask that the spirit was wearing. It kind of reminded her of some story she had heard of before, but she couldn't put her finger on it. It bugged her, and she kept staring at the mask, thinking and trying to remember. The spirit held her brother and walked like it wasn't carrying anything. He walked with a smooth stride and he never leaned on one side when he shifted his weight. It would have looked odd, if Katara would have been paying attention. The spirit looked like it was thinking of something else as well, but you could only see its eyes.

Before she knew it, she was at the doorway of the Northern Air Temple. The spirit had magically disappeared and Sokka was on the ground, drooling everywhere. 'Why is he drooling?' she thought as she tried to pick him up, but failed for she was very fatigued. She dropped him accidentally, and she whispered a silent "Sorry!" to Sokka as she quickly tried to pick him up, but only got him up about a foot before she had to let go of him, but she did it smoothly and slowly this time, still clinging onto Sokka.

"Katara!" she heard as she let go of Sokka and ran toward the voice.

"Aang! I need help with Sokka. He was hurt last night. " she said as she led him toward her drooling brother.

"What happened?" he said as he knelt down next to Sokka, checking his pulse.

"I don't know," she said, not wanting to tell him about the spirit. She walked next to Aang and leaned against one of the pillars with her arms crossed. ",but his hair is singed. I think it might be Azula's doing."

"I thought she was in the Boiling Rock?" he said as he pushed air at Sokka to make him fly up in the air.

"So did I, but if Sokka and Zuko could escape it, she could have," she said worriedly as Aang barely caught Sokka by his fingertips. "Don't do that again Aang. You could have missed and hurt him more!"

"Sorry, it was the only way I could have gotten him up! He is too heavy for me to lift, and obviously you are tired, you can't lift him up either!" he defended as he started to walk toward the doorway. He pointed at Sokka in his arms. "I guess you're right. She could get out. I'll take him to his room."

"Ok, I will go to bed. I am tired!" she said as she briskly walked to her room with a fake grin on her face. She opened the door, and shut it, but put her back on the door and slid down to the floor so she could grab onto her knees. She laid her head on her legs, grabbed her legs, and began to cry. She couldn't stop herself and she just let them slide down her cheeks. She didn't know why she was crying, probably for Sokka, but somewhere in her mind, she thought she was crying for herself for giving up the chance of marrying her true love so her friend wouldn't be heartbroken.

Soon, she got so tired, she could fall asleep crying, and she just moved to her bed, and she fell asleep before she could lay down, so she just fell onto the red blankets, her cheeks still wet with tears.

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The spirit had carried her stupid brother who kept drooling all over his arm. It would take weeks to get the smell of peasant drool off of him, but it was all worth it when he could see the waterbending peasant.

'Wait, did I just think that I was happy to see_ her_?' he said to himself as he saw the city around the temple approach. His arms felt very weak, but he had enough strength to hold her brother. He started to think about her, but immediately stopped and thought about her brother that he was carrying.

'Why am I carrying this, peasant?' he thought to himself as a wad of spit landed on his flawless black jumpsuit. 'That is just gross. I shouldn't be carrying him if he is going to drool all over my jumpsuit. I just had it cleaned.'

When he walked up the temple steps, he was thinking about _the peasant_ and what had happened. When he saw the avatar approach, he quickly and quietly set her brother down next to her on the floor so she wouldn't notice him leaving. He quickly hid in the bushes next to the steps, and he watched the waterbender and the avatar talk. When they talked, they didn't talk like a husband and wife, he noticed, they sounded more like friends or brother and sister. He saw when Sokka went flying into the sky and he began to worry and chuckle at the same time when he saw the waterbender's face. She looked like she was going to murder the Avatar with her stare. When the waterbender, the Avatar, and the peasant left, the spirit quickly followed Katara. He wanted to make sure that she would be okay after what happened to her brother.

He followed her outside of the building so she couldn't hear his footsteps in the narrow hallways the temple was covered in. When he heard her crying, he kept looking up and up till he followed the sound to a third story window with a marble balcony. He could hear her sobbing and was probably going to drown everyone in the temple. He surpressed a chuckle as he focused back onto getting up into Katara's room without her knowing.

"Perfect," he said sarcastically to himself as he quickly tried to climb up the wall, but there was nothing to grab except some loose pebbles that he found, so he climbed up on the first floor balcony, grabbed the bottom of the second, then jumped to the rail on the second, and grabbed onto the bottom of the third floor balcony. When he grabbed the edge of the balcony, it started to crumble from use and erosion. He cursed and quickly shifted to his right so he wouldn't lose his grip and fall three stories. He began to swing and used his momentum to flip upside down, let go of the balcony edge, and flip onto the balcony. He finished on his feet, and he did so without making a sound.

He quietly crept over to her bed in a crouching position, and saw she was slumped over the bed, sleeping. He immediately got out of his crouch and stood up straight, hearing his back crack.

"Man, I am getting old," he said to himself quietly.

He picked up the waterbender, set her head on the pillows, and covered her body with the blankets she was laying on before. He looked down at her neck, as he pulled up the blankets and saw, not her mother's necklace, but a new necklace he had never seen before.

'Where did that necklace come from' he thought to himself before he hit himself on the forehead with his hand, making a loud noise and made Katara jump in her sleep. 'The Avatar! They are married!' For some reason, saying that in his head had made him very sad.

He quickly dropped the thought as he sat next to her and stared into her face, looking at her dark, mocha skin that looked like chocolate, compared to his pale white skin, which reminded him of the stone they used to make this temple. He put his hand on her cheek to compare the skin tone. His hand was very ugly compared to her beautiful skin. She immediately rolled over so his hand fell onto the bed, and she shivered as she moved.

'She must be cold,' he said to himself as he took off his black glove and put his hand, palm up, next to her face, and made a small fire in his hand. He tried to make it as big as he could so she could get a lot of heat, but tried to keep it contained to his palm. Even with the fire, she still kept shivering. He sat there, staring into his fire and thinking about what to do to keep her warm. He looked around and saw there was no fireplace or safe place to start a fire without burning the drapes or the house.

'Oh man! I guess I have to do it!' he thought as he walked over and began to peel the blankets off on the other side of the bed. He sighed and climbed into the red blankets. He slipped in quietly and laid down so his back was to her. He began to raise his body temperature, and turned to see that she had stopped shivering, but this time she had begun to sweat. He quickly lowered the temperature and tried to keep as far away as he could from the avatar's wife, but the bed only allowed about an arm's length away. He took off his mask because it made his face very hot as his body temperature went up. He sat there, thinking about the woman next to him, and just tried to keep his body at a level temperature.

'I wonder what she is dreaming about?' he thought to himself.

When she seemed content, he began to creep out of the bed, but it became so soft and he was so tired, he let sleep overtake him, and soon, he was asleep in the same bed as Katara.

* * *

OOC- Was that too much ? Sorry, if it was. Anyways, sorry for you Taang fans, they won't come in till the second story!!(At least, major Taang. I will put little Taang fluff in occasionally!) I am sorry!

Yes, the Sokka/Suki has begun! Oh, Ti Lee doesn't exist in this story, but if you want her, I can put her in!

Thanks for reading, and** PLEASE REVIEW! I AM BEGGING YOU! PLEASE! **


	4. Chapter Four: Mysteries and Questions

The Burning Rose

Chapter Four

Mysteries and Questions

OOC- This is a shorter chapter, so don't get mad, please. I will try to keep them about the same size.

I have never been happier to see the number 300. I have had 300 hits so far, so keep them coming! They make me excited! It means you like it! All right, story time!

I will update on the weekend. I promise.

* * *

Aang decided to go check on Katara as he left the healer with Sokka, who really didn't need anything but rest.

He walked down her corridor to Katara's room. He noticed the door was closed, so he decided to be polite, and he knocked on the door. When nothing happened, he knocked, but a little more frantically this time. When nothing happened again, he began to panic. He heard a rustling behind the door, and he became frantic and began to scream.

"KATARA! KATARA! What is going on in there?" he started to pound on the door when Katara opened it and rubbed her eyes. Her hair was messy and her clothes were a little wrinkled.

"Yes, Aang?" she said with an angry tone, crossing her arms, and leaning on the doorway.

"What were you doing in there?" he said as he pointed toward their room, sidestepping her to point. He noticed the blankets were thrown around the bed.

"Sleeping, Aang." She said as her eyes widened. "What are you implying?"

"Nothing," he said as he looked down at the floor. "I just thought you were with… someone else."

"Aang, do you think that I would sleep with another man? Do you really not trust me that much? You think I would sleep with another man while you are here?" Her arms moved as she paced the doorway and threw her hands behind her. He could feel her frustration as some of the water in her room began to slosh around.

"No," he said quietly, his head still looking down.

She took his chin into her hand and forced him to look at her. She saw that his grey eyes were starting to become shiny from tears that were going to come soon. She quickly felt her rage and madness go away, and she felt sympathy for the little 16 year old avatar. She pulled him into a hug, and he immediately began to cry. Katara began to sing a song that her mother had sung to her when she was crying. It immediately pulled Aang out of his tears as he heard her voice ring and hit every note. It moved up and down the scale and it had a tone to it to make it seem like water. It made him feel happy to hear her sing like that. He pulled her into another hug, but there were no tears. He rocked with her slowly as she kept singing.

Soon, she stopped. He pulled away to look at her, and he saw that she had gone to sleep. He picked her up bridal style and laid her gently on the bed and pulled the covers over her. He kissed her on the forehead and left the room, glad that she was all his.

* * *

When he heard the Avatar pound on the door, he immediately picked up his mask and ran out the balcony window. He grabbed the ledge of the balcony and quickly flipped over the edge right as the Avatar began to scream the waterbender's name.

"KATARA!" Aang screamed.

Katara was her name. He had to remember that. He held on a little tighter and dropped his hands and held on to the balcony floor, hanging from sudden death. He flipped so that his feet were under the balcony. He found some holes under the balcony that was big enough to fit his feet in, but small enough for him to let go of the balcony and his feet would stay there. He let go of the balcony and hung there, feeling all of the blood rush to his head. He quickly pulled out his twin Dao swords and tried to pierce the wall of marble. He did everything he could think of, even heating the wall, but nothing would pierce the smooth marble. He looked around and saw that someone had made some holes like the ones that were holding his feet. He wondered what those holes were doing there, but he didn't think anymore of it and took his swords and stuck them firmly into the holes one by one. He pulled on the swords slowly to make sure they wouldn't come out, then he took his feet out of the holes and put them into two new ones below where the swords were. They were made to his body height exactly.

'That is weird.' He said to himself as he continually pulled out the swords, then put them back in and pulled out his feet and put them back in. Soon, he was down to the ground and he walked over to the bushes, walking around and waiting in the forest till he could see the sun over the trees.

About three fourths of the circle around the Temple was trees and forest. The other fourth was a small town that was growing around the temple. They were trying to cut down the land, but the Avatar prevented them from taking too much, and making sure that they kept replanting trees.

He found a pool down by a waterfall, and he took off his clothes and bathed in the river, but kept his mask on to keep his identity secret in case anyone found him.

Once he was done with his bath, he quickly heated himself and he became dry. He put his clothes back on and he decided it was time for lunch when his stomach rumbled as he put on his shirt. He looked all around the forest and saw the sun directly above him. He moved around to find some food, but all of the bushes and trees he could find were full of rotten fruit and he couldn't eat any of it. There was no game because he was too close to a city and they had already hunted all of it in the area. He couldn't go into town and buy food because he had no money. He finally decided to go into his room at the Northern Air Temple and get his clothes and change into them, then have some lunch with the Avatar, the waterbender, Toph, Sokka, and Suki.

'No, not the waterbender, her name is Katara.' He reminded himself. 'I have to remember that. Katara.'

He slowly crept around the Northern Air Temple using some of the trees as cover. He clung to the shadows like glue to paper, walking very slowly so he couldn't be heard.

Once he got to his window, he stealthy climbed in and walked into Uncle right next to it.

"Uncle," he said, hastily pulling his uncle aside. "What are you doing here?"

"I was wondering where you were," Uncle said. "You didn't show for lunch."

"You have already had lunch?" he said as he quickly paced back and forth, getting mad at himself for waiting too long.

"Yes," Uncle said as he rubbed his belly and chuckled. "I loved it, and the lovely Katara made it for us. There is some leftover. Do you want it?"

"You know what, Uncle?" he said as he began to walk out the door and said, "I do," before shutting the door.

* * *

OOC- So, what do you think? If you want to comment or review, please do. I need a lot of help! Please help!


	5. Chapter Five: Money and the Monkey

The Burning Rose

Chapter Five

Money and the Monkey

OOC- I like this chapter, but again, it is short.

P.S. This is before Zuko has gone into the building. Zuko is still out in the forest from Chapter 5- Chapter 7

I need to put one of these on here, because I haven't yet, so, Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender. It belongs to Mike and Bryan and Nickelodeon. If I did own it, Zuko and Katara would be together from the first chapter.

* * *

Katara hadn't gone to sleep for long. When the sun came up at about 12:00, Toph busted open the door and walked into the room.

"Hey, Sugar Queen, I'm hungry. What do you two have around this place?" she said, starting to tap her foot on the floor in impatience as her arms were crossed over her chest.

"If you want meat, you have to get it yourself." Katara said as she picked up her head to look at Toph and slammed it on the pillow, trying to fall back asleep.

"Yeah, I know that, you said that to Sokka," she said as she began to poke Katara. "Wake up, Sugar Queen. We need food!"

"All right!" Katara screamed as she sat up and tried to fix her hair. Toph jumped a little at her scream, but she immediately smiled and just walked out the door.

Katara stood up and slammed the door shut. She grabbed her yellow and orange dress that looked exactly like her water tribe dress and a towel and took a soothing bath. Once she was dressed, she waterbended the water out of her hair and anywhere else she might have missed. She quickly ran a brush through her hair before she put it in a usual braid with her hair loops. She walked out of the bathroom, set her clothes down, and spun around before she saw Aang in the doorway. She jumped before she started to speak.

"Aang," she said, a surprised look on her face as she felt her face become hot. "What are you doing here?"

"I just…" he said as he began to walk toward her. "I just wanted to make sure that you were ok."

"Oh," she said as she pulled him into a hug. "I'm ok, Aang. But, why did you think I was hurt?"

"Well," he said, pushing her out of the hug softly, "I heard a scream."

"Oh," she said as she separated from Aang. "That was Toph. She was trying to wake me up by bugging me, so I screamed to get her away, and she did!" She waited for a minute to let Aang take it in, then she said, "Is Sokka up yet?"

"No. He is still healing, and he should be up soon, thanks to you!" Aang said as a smile spread across his face.

"Thank you for saying that, Aang!" she said as she flashed him a smile. "Now, I have to go and make some lunch for Toph before she starts to bug me again!"

"Ok!" Aang said as he walked down a hallway and into his bedroom, three doors away.

Katara walked down the hallway, thinking of something to do about having no food in the Temple. When she got to the spiral staircase, where she had seen Appa, she thought about the money she had saved for just this moment. Unfortunately, she didn't save much because Aang_ just had_ to have his temple monkey with ruby red eyes that they had found on the pirate ship. Now the monkey is in his bedroom, he worships the monkey every day, and claims him to be a god.

With the money she had in her purse she had recently gotten, but she had gotten the purse for a good reason, she had 3 gold coins and 2 silver. That was enough for about a fish and a pear. Not enough to feed everyone there. She would have to ask Suki, Toph, or Zuko if they have any money she could use. With their money, they might be able to get enough to make a stew to last at least 3 days. If Aang or Zuko could go hunting, then they might have enough for her to make individual meals, but it is all on chance that they would get something. Aang wouldn't go hunting because of his beliefs he had shoved onto her. She didn't want to talk and ask Zuko for money, because they weren't exactly the best of friends right now. Before he came to visit, she hadn't seen or heard from him since Sokka had painted the picture at his uncle's tea shop. So, they wouldn't go out to hunt, unless the girls went, but they don't know how to hunt. They didn't know how to sneak up on animals without alerting them, and they would just scare most of the game away before they could catch it.

She sighed, put her back to one of the walls, and slid down to her knees. She hugged her knees, and tried to think about the situation. The only resolution she could come up with is to ask Suki and Toph for money, but she didn't know how much they would have, since they were in the South Pole, making a new station for the Four Nations meeting.

She shook it off, stood, and decided to find Toph and Suki, just in case they did have something.

* * *

She sat in a dark corner of her cell, swearing she was going insane. Her black hair was misshapen and everywhere. She could hear the jeers, snide remarks, and even catcalls from the guards as they passed her cell. She could hear them, but paid no mind. She was thinking about her new plan they had devised, and it was brilliant! There was no way this plan could fail. It was, in every way, perfect.

She pulled a scroll she had been saving for years, waiting for this moment. It, like her plan, was perfect. No scratches, marks or tearing. There was a red wax seal over the paper, her own personal stamp. It did look aged, for she had had it for 3 years to the day, by the calendar she had set up with scratches in the wall from her fingernails.

She whistled, but it came out hoarse and soft, lower than a whisper. She didn't have water for… 3 days. She felt like she was going to die from dehydration.

A fire nation messenger falcon came up to the window. It stuck out its left leg and she saw a leather tube strapped to the bird. She slowly crawled to the bird. She was also deprived of food. She hadn't eaten for 2 weeks, and she hated being tortured as so. She barely got the bird before she was going to pass out. She quickly put the scroll in the hollow tube, and slumped down on the ground. She uttered four words before her world went completely black.

"To the Fire Lord."

* * *

OOC- Can anyone guess who the girl is in prison? I will give you another cookie!!

The next chapter will come out next weekend! That is the only time I have to send it out!

Man, I might become poor after this..


	6. Chapter Six: The Prank

The Burning Rose

Chapter Six

OOC- I will give you till Chapter Seven to figure out who the girl is. There will be big hints dropped, so you can figure it out.

I have 600 hits. I am so happy!

Sorry about the late update. I forgot. I am so sorry. Please forgive me! :P

Now read!

* * *

She quietly walked over to Suki's door, hoping to catch her at a good time. It was around noon, so she should be up, unless she stayed with Sokka all night long. Then she would be very tired from staying up. This made her continue her thoughts from last night.

'Are they married?' she wondered as she walked up to the door.'They hang around each other a lot. In fact, I haven't seen them separated all day, and they do argue like a married couple. Hmm...' She lightly knocked on the cold, stone door. She heard nothing behind the door. She waited, then she knocked again, a little harder this time. Still nothing.

This time she shouted as well as knocked harder, swearing if she could knock any harder, the door would come off its hinges.

"Suki?! Are you in here!? Suki!?" she said as she knocked. Nothing.

She wiggled the doorknob a bit, but it was locked. She began to pound and kick on the door in an effort to open it. The door never budged an inch.

She sighed. "She must be with Sokka and Jalen."

She walked down the hallway slowly, immersed in her thoughts.

'Why was her door locked? Was something going on? What is going on between them?' She ran into a soldier as she walked down the hall, but she took no notice. She felt Aang's charm on her necklace brush her neck as she ran into the soldier. Her thoughts quickly shifted to her necklace.

"Why?" she said quietly to herself as she walked down a barren hallway. "Why did I have to marry him? Why did I have to say yes?"

She wanted to cry, but she held back as she came upon the healer's door. She didn't want anyone to see her cry, especially her brother, who had no emotions for how Katara felt, so she quickly wiped away the tears that were depositing in the corners of her eyes, and walked in with her head held high. She immediately saw the healer next to the door. He looked very tired and his white hair was everywhere. He was wringing his hands.

"Why hello, Katara!" he said, his voice very hoarse and weak, but she could still hear his happiness in his voice. "How are ya today?"

"Good, Jalen" she said, feeling bad for the man. He had to deal with Sokka whenever he would wake up. "How are you?"

"Pretty good, considering how your brother is." He glanced over at the shape of a body completely covered underneath a starched white sheet. "He doesn't look too good."

"What happened?" she said as she cautiously walked over to Sokka. She felt herself overcome with sadness as she saw Sokka's figure under the blanket. She quickly grabbed the end of the blanket, closest to Sokka's face. She pushed it back a tiny bit so she could see Sokka's face and saw that his cheeks were deathly white and his eyes were closed. She gasped and took the rest of the blanket off of Sokka's body.. His water tribe shirt and pants blocked her from looking where they covered, but she could see his arms and legs were also, if it could be possible, paler than his face.

"Sokka?" she whimpered as she felt all of her tears she had held in come out and run down her cheeks. "Sokka? Are you there? Sokka? Come on, Sokka. Don't leave me alone, you big lump. Don't leave me as an only child."

She reached out to his neck to check his pulse when a white hand grabbed her wrist. She jumped five feet in the air and screamed, till she saw who's hand it was.

* * *

She was in the darkest corner of the cell, which was everywhere. There was only one window, but the glass was black, so it let no light into her cell. She couldn't see anything, but it didn't matter to her. She didn't care for anything that would happen except what the letter would say when it returned.

She looked at her calendar, and noticed that is was her birthday. 'What shall I get on my birthday?' she thought to herself, for her throat was too dry to laugh or speak. It would just hurt her throat.

She heard a squawk first, then she saw red wings, then the bird. She crawled as fast as she could, which was the speed of a turtle, and grabbed the letter in the container. She slowly unrolled the scroll that, written hastily, said 'I will do what you say.'

For the first time since the comet came, an evil smile moved across her lips. The plan was working perfectly.

* * *

"SOKKA!" she screamed, panting loudly. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING? HOW COULD YOU SCARE ME LIKE THAT?! I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD!"

Sokka sat up on the bed with his feet dangling over the edge. He had a smile pasted on his face as he started to rock back and forth, laughing so hard,but no sound came out. He took two deep breaths as Katara tapped her foot impatiently. He stopped laughing, wiped away the tears coming from his eyes from laughing so hard, and began to speak.

"I got you good!" he said as he began to laugh as hard as before, because Jalen was still laughing. "Hey, Jalen, thanks for the help. It was worth wearing make-up!" He immediately began to break out in another round of laughs.

"Sokka," she said in a threatening voice, clenching her fists till they were white. She stared down at the floor, but he knew if she was looking at him, her eyes would be glaring at him."Don't make mad. I am completely surrounded by water."

Sokka looked around, and it was true. There was a basin of water next to the head his metal bed, and another at the foot. He immediately became serious and hopped off of the bed.

"All right, Katara," he said as he grabbed her shoulders and tried to look her in the eye, but her gaze was everywhere but his eyes. "I am sorry for doing that, but I needed a good laugh."

"Where…. Is…… Suki?" she panted through her teeth. Her grip on her palms became so bad, she began to bleed. Sokka realized the seriousness in her voice and became even more serious as well. Well, as serious as Sokka can get.

"I don't know," he said. "I haven't seen her all day, and she wasn't here last night. I was just going to see her and play the same joke, when Jalen told me you were coming! The expression on your face was so funny when you thought I was dead!"

He began to roll all over the bed, clutching his stomach, as he laughed harder than he had in his life. Tears were rolling off his face onto the bed, but he didn't care. He kept imagining her face over and over again, and he couldn't stop laughing. Jalen started to laugh as well, but not as hard as Sokka.

Katara became infuriated, but she quickly turned on the spot and walked out the door. She took a little water with her to heal her wounds on her palm, which she did as she rounded the corner. Her thoughts went to Sokka at first, and she got mad, but restrained herself so she wouldn't hurt her hands again. Then they shifted to Suki.

'Where is she? If she isn't with Sokka and isn't in her room, where could she be?' she thought to herself as she stood in the middle of the hallway.

Her thoughts were interrupted as she saw Toph stomp down the hall. She could see that Toph was angry. Every time she stepped, she could see a wave of rocks come up from the ground right next to Toph.

"Sugar Queen, Where were you?" Toph said as she spun Katara around so she was facing the opposite direction, and pushed Katara on her back with her hands gloved in earth. "I need food _right now._ I am starving from last night!"

Toph pushed her to the kitchen, threw her in there, and bended a rectangle of earth over the doorway, so it was covering the whole doorway. Toph also made the rock thicker so she wouldn't be able to get out if she tried to use waterbending.

"You aren't coming out of there till you make us food. Now get to work!" Toph said as she walked away. She had to scream so Katara could hear her through the rock.

"But I have no food!" Katara screamed.

"Yes, you do!" Toph screamed just enough for Katara to hear it as a whisper as she walked down the hallway.

Katara looked around, and it looked like it had yesterday. Nothing was littering the counter tops, and it looked as if nothing had happened. There were no fingerprints on the cabinets.

_Wait, Sokka was in the infirmary all night. He couldn't have come here to get food. _She face-palmed herself.

She walked over and opened the cabinets, and they were stocked to the brim with different foods. There was fish, meat, vegetables, fruit, and everything you could think of in the Four Nations. She even found something that looked like fire nation berries. She began to make a stew, when she decided that there was enough to make a rice dish that her mother used to make for was rice cooked with beef and since Aang was a vegetarian, she added 20 different types of vegetables, making sure a small part didn't cook with the beef. It didn't take long to make it, but it was still tasty.

She walked up to the stone wall with a few bowls and silverware. The wall moved into the ground once she stopped in front of it. She knew that Toph was watching her from the dining room, so she wasn't shocked as it moved. She just silently stepped over where is was and walked to the dining room a couple doors off of the kitchen. She placed a bowl and chopsticks in front of Toph, Sokka, Aang, and in front of a empty chair for herself. She went back to the get the rice, and everyone was talking about the joke Sokka had pulled on Katara. Toph loved to hear about it, but Aang was uneasy as Sokka began to laugh as Toph began to laugh. Sokka finished describing her face, and soon, everyone except Katara was laughing.

* * *

OOC- She is back! It is weird, I know, but I like it. I do.

Please review! I like to hear your ideas, and how my writing is doing!


	7. Chapter Seven: The Fight

The Burning Rose

Chapter Seven

The Fight

OOC- Disclaimer: I don't ATLA. Bryke and Nickelodeon do. I wish I did, though. *sigh*

* * *

She brought out the rice mixture, gave everyone a helping, and then sat down to eat. She was flushed red from what Sokka had talked about earlier, so she didn't talk, no matter how hard Toph tried to hit her, Aang tried to speak to her, and Sokka tried to, well, stuff food in his mouth and try to talk to her. It came out in a bunch of muffled noises, so it wouldn't have helped anyway. Eventually, Toph and Sokka gave up on Katara, so they had an eating competition, to see who could eat the most. Toph won. Sokka had passed out on his chair before Toph had become slightly full.

"He must have lost his appetite while he was with Suki," Toph said as she loomed over the unconscious Sokka. Aang stared at Sokka, poking his arm. It rolled over, and Aang jumped. Throughout the rest of dinner, he glanced at the arm, then looked down to his bowl.

When Katara was done, she just quietly left the table and cleaned up the food and the bowls. No one came to talk to her after that, so she gathered everyone's bowls as she heard Aang and Toph quietly discuss the prank among themselves. She cleaned everyone's bowl as she tried to get her thoughts off of the prank, and focusing on Azula and Boiling Rock.

_'Could she get out?'_ she thought as she bended water off the bowl she was washing. _'If Zuko and Sokka could get out with Dad and Suki, then Azula could get out. I mean, Dad and Suki weren't much help getting out. Azula could definatly get out on her own, but would she want to?'_

She quickly dismissed the thought of Azula escaping, and began to focus on the task her hands were doing, but she eventually came back to another subject.

_'Who attacked Sokka? What if Azula wasn't the one who did it?' _she thought to herself. '_What if someone else did it? Like Iroh.' _She shook her head_, 'No, Iroh wouldn' t do something like that. He is too nice to hurt me. What about Zuko? He liked Sokka. At least, they acted like it. I don't know if they are really friends, but they had seemed to be friends at the Temple before the comet.' _She finished the last bowl and set it down in the cabinets.

She had nothing important to do, so she went to the forest outside the Temple, and found her favorite spot to think. It was out of the way, so no one really bothered to go with her. There was a waterfall that would glisten in the light, and it looked beautiful. She could see a rainbow in the spray coming off of the rocky side. The rest of the water would collect in a pool underneath the waterfall, then flow down a river to the temple. It was out of the area for the town, so no one would venture as far out as she was. Also, there were some rumors going around that the forest was haunted, and was full of rabid animals.

She bent some water into her waterskin, then began to push and pull the water in the lake. She immediately became calm, and her body moved with the water. It rocked gently up and down. It created little waves on the surface of the pool. It was relaxing for her to be near her element.

She could let her thoughts run wild while her body swayed with the water. She tried to think about everything, but it would always immediately go to Aang and their relationship.

She thought about how he never really showed affection to her. He didn't buy her lavish gifts, or complimented her. He was just, her husband. He had kissed her once, after their wedding. It wasn't a deep, passionate kiss. It more like a goodbye kiss, because he had to leave for a while, traveling around the world as an ambassador.

In truth, she was a little glad that he didn't try to kiss her anymore. Before, when he had tried to kiss her, she would quickly make up an excuse and leave before she could see his face. She didn't like to see him disappointed.

_'Does he still like me?' _she wondered.

She heard a slight tap, like someone had hit a sword against a rock. It sounded like it was behind her, so she instantly got some water from the lake and turned, but she was a little too late. A flame whip shot toward her head, and she quickly tried to block it, but she didn't move fast enough and groaned. The water stopped some of it, but not all of it. The flames licked her forehead and her left arm. Her hair was singed, and there was a slight burn on her arm, but the adrenaline took away the pain.

She became very mad and looked around for the person who had done that, but everything was cast in shadow. She looked up at the sky, and the full moon had come out. She felt very strong, and she pulled more water out of the pool right as a fireball flew for her face. She easily dodged it and threw a big wave to her right, where she had thought they had shot it from, but hit nothing except trees. Another fireball came out, but she traced where it came from before dodging their throw. She shifted to her right and blew a tsunami-like wave at her left. She could hear the person move to dodge the wave, and threw a water whip where she heard them. She heard a grunt and a loud thud.

She quickly gathered more water and slowly made her way over to where she heard the grunt. She saw a figure in the darkness, but couldn't see who it was. The person was shrouded by shadows, so Katara quickly tried to pull the person out in the moonlight. They were heavy, and she took a while, but she finally got them out in the open.

They had a black cape with a black hood over their face, and it was strewn when she had dragged them out into the clearing. She swore she had seen the cape before. It was about floor length compared to the person's body. It looked like velvet, but she couldn't quite tell under the moon's light. She dragged them to the waterfall to see them better. She quickly moved the top half of their body up, so it would be easier to see their face. The moon was in front of her, and behind the person, so it still cast a shadow over the person's face.

She quickly pushed the hood off their face, she gasped, and let go of the person all in one swift motion. She looked back at the face on the ground to make sure that she was seeing who she thought it was.

She whimpered one thing. "Zuko?"

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He didn't remember anything, only feeling a light breeze come through the forest. Then he heard a light tapping noise, then noticed that his hand was moving. His sword, in his hand, hit a rock, and it seemed very loud in the silent clearing. He mentally cursed himself as he saw her turn around. The moonlight shined off of her hair so it made it look like milk chocolate with a spot of white chocolate. She looked very beautiful.

'Man, she looks good. Wait, what am I thinking about?' he said in his head as he felt his body moving. His hands created fire balls and shot them at Katara. He felt himself grow worried as she barely deflected it and shot a wave of water at the trees. He saw himself, again, shoot a fireball at her, and he felt water spray his right arm. He tried to look to his left, but he couldn't. He felt a huge pounding sensation on his face as he saw a water whip come for his face, and his world went black.

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He felt himself being lifted off the ground and opened his eyes a crack. He saw a blurry form of someone, but he was sure it was Katara. He saw the lack of light, and guessed he had been out for only minutes. His back hurt badly, and he could feel a stick poke a tender spot, but he was surprised at what she did. She flipped back his hood, and he saw an expression on her face he couldn't read. Was it rage, pity, or hurt?

He felt himself falling to the ground. His head touched the ground lightly, but he felt two hands on his back pulling him up. He quickly closed his eyes and pretended that he was still unconscious, but it didn't work so well. His eyes opened before he squinted them shut, but Katara had noticed it.

"Zuko," she muttered. He could tell she was trying not to sound mad, but she was failing very badly. "**Zuko**! I know you are awake!"

He forcefully opened his eyes and looked into her ocean blue eyes. There was such a flame behind them, so he couldn't look at them for long or he would probably burst into a million pieces.

"Zuko," she said in a harsh tone, like she was going to kill him any second. "What are you doing, trying to **attack** me?"

"What do you think I was doing, peasant?" he said proudly, lifting up his chin

He saw Katara's eyes go into slits, and she dropped him. He fell on his back, jabbing the stick harder into his back, and landed on a rock right below where the stick hit him. His vision went a little blurry, but he picked himself up so his weight was on his elbows and stared at the girl.

He saw Katara's face quickly soften a bit at the pain he was experiencing, but she instantly went back to a hard stare. He tried to get up onto his feet by using a rock, about the size of a small dog, that went up to Zuko's calf when he stood. He couldn't get up by himself, but Katara wouldn't help him up. He tried as best he could, but he could only get into a crouch.

"Why were you trying to attack me?" she said as he feebly tried to get to his feet. She was mad, he could tell. He couldn't see her face because he was avoiding her blue eyes.

"I can't tell you," Zuko said as he stared at the floor, and fell down.

"What?" Katara almost screamed.

"I can't tell you!" he almost screamed as well, again, trying to get up.

"I have a right to know! You attacked me!" This time, she did scream. He was worried she would wake someone up. Finally, he stood up as he said his response.

"I can't tell you! Why can't you understand that? It is very simple!" he said as he hovered over her, looking down on her. He could feel his eyes going to slits, and he didn't care. He could feel his hands clench into a fist, and he wanted to slap her. All thought of the world around them melted away.

"Why can't you tell me?!" she screamed, glaring at him.

"I can't tell you that either!" he said as he stood there, trying to calm himself down.

"Well, what can you tell me, then?" she said as she stood in front of Zuko and yelled in his face.

"Nothing, you peasant!" he screamed at her. He had leaned in closer to her, so now their faces were at least an inch apart.

"I have a name you know!" she said loudly, trying to keep her face farther away from his by backing up a bit. "You spoiled prince!"

"Ugh! This is getting us nowhere!" he said as he took a step forward. Their faces were a little bit closer together, and he could feel the heat off of her skin onto his. A shiver went down his spine, but he paid no heed as he saw Katara walk away.

"Where are you going?" he said as she walked away.

"Somewhere where I can't see you!" she screamed back.

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OOC- Sorry for the late update.

I won't update for another two weeks, because I have to type the next chapters, and I don't have anything started. I will try to go as fast as I can, but give me, maybe three weeks at the most. I will have it done by then.


	8. Chapter Eight: After the Storm

The Burning Rose

Chapter Eight: The Aftermath

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I have nothing to say.

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Katara stomped down the brightly torch lit hallways as she thought about _him_._ 'How could he call me a peasant!? Of all of the stupid things the spoiled prince had said before I have never heard him…'_

"Katara!" a voice rang out from the hallway in front of her, which broke her thoughts about Zuko.

"Aang?" she said as she saw the particular tattooed boy quickly stride up to her.

"Where were you?" he said as he pulled her into a hug and his arms wrapped around her back. "I was worried."

"You are never going to believe this, Aang," she said as she hesitantly pulled him out of the hug, settled her arms on his shoulders, and stared into his grey eyes, his hands hanging like limp noodles at his sides. "Zuko tried to attack me."

"What?" Aang said, disbelief clearly showing in his face. He let go of Katara and stood in shock. "Zuko wouldn't do anything like that, would he?"

"He did," she said, trying persuade him that she was telling the truth as Aang began to pace in front of her. "Go ask him yourself. He wouldn't deny it!"

"I don't know, Katara," Aang said, periodically moving his eyes to look at Katara's and the floor while still pacing. His right index finger had moved up, between his lips and his thumb under his chin with all of the rest of the fingers curled up beside his palm. "I couldn't imagine Zuko to attack you, unless you wanted to fight him. He usually doesn't lose his temper like that anymore."

"Well, I didn't ask him to fight me, if that is what you are implying!" she yelled at him. She quietly calmed her temper, took a few deep breaths, then continued. "He would send fire blasts from the trees, and I didn't know it was him till I knocked him out. He was wearing a black cape that covered his face, and he stuck to the shadows, almost like he was making sure I couldn't see him, or where he was going. He wasn't as good as he was when he was before the comet. Actually, it was like he had just learned his first firebending lesson.

"Anyways, I took him out with a water whip to the head, but even Momo could have dodged it!" she explained as Aang continually paced and thought, staying silent. She could feel herself get mad as she began to describe their verbal fight, but she didn't mention when he had gotten so close, she could feel his breath on her skin and it made goosebumps raise on her skin. It warmed her whole body when his breath touched her skin. She had enjoyed the feeling of a shiver running down her spine, but she chastised herself for thinking things like that, and continued the tale.

Finally, when she was done, she stood with her left foot out, tapping it impatiently as Aang stopped moving and stared at Katara with a knowing look. He opened his mouth once, then closed it, looking like a gaping fish, then he opened his mouth once more.

"Hm," Aang said as he began to rub his chin. After a few seconds, his face brightened and he stuck his index finger up. "I know! I will go ask Zuko!"

"Well, I don't want to see anymore of that arrogant Fire Lord!" She harrumphed, and spun on her heel, fuming as she stomped down the hallway, standing right before her door, before Aang's voice rang out again.

"Are you sure, Katara?" He called from the opposite side of the hallway.

"YES!" she yelled back as she walked into the open door and slammed it shut, instantly falling onto her bed. She grabbed one of her small yellow pillows off the bed and stuck her face into it before screaming. The prince, no, _Fire Lord_, would make her _so angry _sometimes. She screamed a few more times, each time renewed as the fight replayed in her head. Finally, she flopped on the bed and threw the pillow against the opposing wall, staring out her window to the balcony.

She had the blue curtains drawn, but the moon, high in the sky, could still be seen through the slightly transparent fabric. The moon always helped calm her nerves as she could hear the far-off people scuttle around the town. _'What were they doing out at this late at night? Maybe they were going out to....'_

"Katara..."a familiar, light voice hesitantly spoke from the doorway of her room. She turned her head around and saw Suki standing in the doorway. "What happened?" She wasn't wearing her warrior uniform on. Now, she was in an green Earth Nation nightgown. Suki hastily walked over to her bed, and sat down next to Katara, who was flopped onto the bed. Her hands were under her chin, but they slipped out and her head fell to the blankets below.

"Nothing," she said through the blankets, trying to tell Suki that she didn't want to talk through her tone in her voice.

"I can tell you have something troubling you. What is it?" Suki put a reassuring hand on Katara's arm. Katara's blazing blue eyes popped up, contrasting the red sheets and blankets strewn around everywhere on the bed.

"Nothing, Suki." She shrugged her hand off of her shoulder and plopped her head back onto the bed. "I am just very tired. Can I go to bed?"

"All right," Suki said as she walked to the doorway and delayed a little longer, "but you owe me tomorrow!"

Katara smiled into the bed as Suki laughed. "All right," she said playfully. "Now, get out of here you dirty beggar!" Katara turned around to throw a pillow at her while she stood in the doorway, and Suki dodged it effortlessly.

"Tomorrow," she whispered as she pointed at Katara and flung the pillow back at her. It hit her square in the face and Suki ran off, laughing hard.

Katara laughed as well, then flipped back over to look out the window, trying to sort out her jumbled thoughts before she tried to go to bed. She couldn't make any headway, so she wriggled underneath the blankets and collected the small pillow that was flung around the room to place underneath her head. She stared at the wall opposite her, and she could hear a little muffled shouting. She didn't know what was going on, so she let the pounding on the door in the room next to her quietly lull her to sleep.

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His heart clenched tightly as his body, in order to let all of the stress he had accumulated come out, automatically fought an invisible enemy. He was battering him with many fire attacks feeling the fire flow from his feet and hands out to the person, but couldn't understand, or comprehend, anything else in his body or in the world around him. He was stuck in his past, one memory replaying over and over in his head:

_Three years ago..._

_He walked out of the green tea shop, leaving the rumble of laughter, from everyone but Mai, behind him. The sun cast an orange glow over the ever-darkening sky, making an orange reflection on the dark-teal ocean, which was also darkening at an alarming rate. Zuko suddenly became aware of the time passing by, feeling it fly past. Another rumble of laughter, cast from the tea house, boomed in Zuko's ears. He just ignored the merry laughter, trying not to get jealous of the fun they were having without him there._

_He looked out, against the sliver of the yellow ball left, and saw two shadows being projected onto the stone floor, standing very close together. They looked like their upper halves of their bodies were connected, but their legs were apart, the shadow looking like conjoined twins. He squinted his eyes, trying to see past the fading light to see who it was, but could not. _

_Once the sun dipped over the horizon, it instantly became dark, except for the light flooding in from the tea shop, and his heart skipped a beat. There, on a balcony, was Katara kissing Aang, and it didn't look like either would let go of each other's lips for a long time. His heart almost seemed to shatter at the sight. His hand closed around the object in his hand, that he was going to give to Katara. The smooth, silky band slowly began to slip out of his hand, and he could feel the cold metal pendant move down his hand. Some of the sunlight went through the cracks in his hands, and hit the waves on the necklace, making a multi-color rainbow shine on its surface and land on his hand. A single tear made its way down his face, the blue band slowly making its way to the ground. Finally, he grabbed onto the end of _her _necklace, and let it hang there. The tear washed down his face and landed on the palm of his hand. He looked out at Katara, his heart broken. He wanted to march down there and yell at the two, but a voice stopped him._

_"Zuko," a female voice called from the shop. "What are you doing out here?"_

_"Nothing, Mai. Just looking at the sunset." he called out to her, still looking at Katara. Now, Katara had heard voices and broke from Aang. When she looked at Zuko, she instantly paled and muttered something about Appa before going around to the front of the tea shop. He had noticed that she tried not to make eye contact with him, and that shattered his already broken heart a little more. Aang quickly followed after her, calling her name and trying to grab for her arm. "Why are you so worried about me?" He croaked to Mai, then cringed at the sound of his voice. _

_"What is this?" she said, ignoring his question. She walked out in front of him and touched his cheek. She lifted her fingers, and looked into his eyes. He expected compassion in her eyes. He was wrong. "You were crying? Over that... peasant?" He looked down at her, his amber eyes wide, and shook his head from side to side, violently, his hair whipping around his head._

_"No! I wasn't," he answered a little too quickly. He couldn't think of an excuse that quickly, and under Mai's intense stare, he stuttered a bit. "I mean, I... I had... I... I got something in my eye! I mean, I got something in my eye. I don't have any feelings for that _peasant."_ He tried to put as much spite in his sentences as he could, but it didn't work out so well. He was about as hateful and scary as a bunny-cat. His emotions had to get in the way, now of all times._

_"What is wrong, Zuko?" He opened his mouth, but Mai spoke before he could even get a breath out. "And don't give me any lies. I am sick and tired of lies coming out of your mouth."_

_"Nothing, Mai. Nothing is wrong." He looked down at her with as much truth and sincerity he could muster. She fell for his plot faster than he thought._

_"All right," she said as she shrugged and walked back into the tea shop, grabbing his hand and pulled him in with her. Zuko followed, looking back over his shoulder where Katara had been earlier with the Avatar. Every time he looked over at the balcony, he could feel the immense hole in his heart, getting bigger with every second that Katara spent with the monk. He turned his head to face Mai's, and she began to speak._

The image of Mai's face was instantly replaced by Aang's face and Zuko unconsciously swung his hand, which was full of fire, over the monk's face. Aang quickly made fire appear over his hands and blocked Zuko's unintentional attack. Zuko's foot started to climb up, it, again, had fire trailing after it.

"Zuko!" Aang shouted, quickly pulling Zuko out of his firebending trance. "Stop!" His foot froze in mid-swing and he set it back on the ground.

"What are you doing here?" Zuko shouted in Aang's face. He had accepted him as a friend, but when his memories resurfaced, he could feel all of his pent up anger flood up at the Avatar. He walked closer toAang, using his height against the younger boy to try to make him look bigger.

"I wanted to talk to you, peacefully," Aang said, cowering down lower, then stood up straight and almost hit Zuko in the nose. Zuko recoiled, started to rub his nose, and stared at the boy, as he continued, "like mature adults."

Zuko glared at the boy. "About what?"

"Your fight with Katara!" he said, too happily. Zuko's anger flared, but he fought to keep control of it. He clenched his thumb and first finger to the bridge of his nose and took a few rapid, successive breaths.

"I don't want to talk about that right now. Go away." Zuko closed his eyes, clenching his other hand as the one pinching the bridge of his nose crushed the skin between his fingers. He decided, since Aang just sat in front of him in complete silence, to go to his room. He was tired, and he wasn't about to put up with this boy. He quickly clambered around Aang and ran to his room, Aang following on his heels.

"Zuko! Wait up for me! Hold on! I can't run that fast!" Zuko just ignored the boy and continued to walk as fast as he could, walking into the hallway of the temple.

Once Aang had finally gotten a hold of some of his common sense and tried to airbend himself forward, Zuko was already in his room, his door shut and locked. He swung around so his back was facing the door as Aang pounded on it. He took a few deep breaths before falling onto his bed, his red and blue mask, black suit, and his dao swords in their sheaths still laying on the bed, a jumble with the blankets everywhere on the bed.

"Zuko! Let me in!" Aang yelled into the door. Zuko tried to ignore the airbender and, instead, stared at the wall Katara had stared at before. He slowly let his head fall to the bed with the pillow underneath it. Now, Aang was gone and it was silent in the house. Slowly, his eyes closed as the wearyness from the day before drifted into his eyes, and he fell asleep.

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I am very sorry for not updating. I have had a hard time with this chapter. I feel so sorry. I had some writer's block, and I couldn't get anything typed. Thank you for hanging on and reading my story! **Please review and keep reading!**

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